Sukumar Ray was a remarkable personality in the history of Bengali literature. Son of Upendrakishore Raychaudhury (a close friend of Rabindranath Tagore and a man with multifarious talents and achievements), he was an incredibly gifted man. One of the great humourists of the world, he remains the father of ‘literary nonsense’ in India and finds place in world-literature alongside the likes of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. His poems, stories and plays, which are filled to the brim with wit, absurdist and satirical humour, wordplays and ironies, and adorned with his wonderful illustrations, remain immensely popular among Bengalis to this day, though largely unknown outside Bengal. Interestingly, his creative bent aside, he graduated in both Physics and Chemistry (from Presidency College), studied printing technology from England, was a pioneer in photography and lithography, regularly dabbled in essays on science, ran the magazine Sandesh started by his father, participated in reformist activities, founded the Nonsense Club, among others! Made by his son Satyajit Ray in order to commemorate his birth centenary, this crisp 30-minute documentary provides a fascinating portrayal of the man, his life (albeit a woefully short one as he died at the young age of 36), his priceless creations and his enduring legacy. Brilliantly narrated by Soumitra Chatterjee, it features performances by some of the doyens of Bengali cinema (in the dramatized sections of his life), viz. Chatterjee, Utpal Dutt and Santosh Dutta. The documentary is funny, lyrical, informative and mournful in equal measures, making this heart-rending (and curiously nostalgic) account a loving tribute to the extraordinary genius of Sukumar Ray.
Director: Satyajit Ray
Genre: Documentary
Language: Bengali
Country: India
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